OH SHENANDOAH I LONG TO SEE YOU!

BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY - SEPT. 9 & 10
Tuesday morning we hopped on the Blue Ridge Parkway at Asheville, NC; the Parkway follows the Appalachian Mountain chain for 355 miles.  We were filled with great expectations of seeing magnificent scenic vistas along the way.  However, it wasn't long before the fog and clouds became so dense the only thing we concentrated on was avoiding deer and other vehicles.  Our average speed was 30 mph.  We dry-camped (no electric, water or sewer) at two of the National Parkway campgrounds, Doughton Park and Peaks of Otter, on our way to Shenandoah National Park.

We had our heads in the clouds along Blue Ridge Parkway.

SHENANDOAH NATIONAL PARK - SEPT. 11 - 15
Friday, Sept. 11th we saw the sun!  The scenic vistas along the Parkway to Shenandoah NP were stunning.  Now I know why they call this range of the Appalachians the Blue Ridge Mountains; there is a blue colored mist/haze surrounding the mountains. 

Looking west to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. 

The Blue Ridge Parkway ends and Skyway Highway begins at the south entrance of Shenandoah National Park.  Twenty miles into the Park, we stopped at Loft Mountain campground for 2 nights of dry-camping.

TAKE A HIKE ON THE A.T.
The 2,160 mile Appalachian Trail  traverses 101 miles through Shenandoah N. P.; every year 300 to 400 hikers take the challenging foot trail between Springer Mountain, GA and Mount Katahdin, ME.  Thru-hikers will hike the trail in one continuous grueling trek over a 4 to 5 month period, while others may hike sections of the trail a week or two a year, taking several years to complete the A.T.

A trail marker for the A.T.

The white blaze mark on the tree means you're on the A.T.

Looking at our camper at Loft Campground from the AT.

WEST VIRGINIA, MOUNTAIN MAMA
Having never been to West Virginia, we wanted to cross that State off our bucket list so we drove the Jeep about 60 miles west through the Shenandoah Valley, then through winding mountain roads to the sweet little town of Franklin, WV.  We dropped in at the Corner Cafe for lunch.  I'm still chuckling about the menu.  No kidding, this is what was literally listed on the menu for soups: "Campbell's out of the can: Chicken Noodle, Tomato, Vegetable Beef".  Underneath that was "Homemade Soup of the Day - ask waitress".  I asked the waitress what the homemade soup of today might be.  She said "chili".  I ordered the Homemade Chili with a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  The "homemade chili" was tomato soup (I'm certain it was Campbell's out of the can) with some ground beef, onion, pinto beans, and chili seasoning thrown in.

CSI (Crazy Stupid Idiot)
We left Loft Campground on Saturday, drove 30 miles north to dry-camp at Big Meadows Campground.  It took us an hour to wind our way on Skyway Highway through heavy rain and fog as thick as molasses on a cold January morning.  Along the way, a CSI driving a white car with NO lights on stopped right in front of us in the middle of the road to take pictures of deer.  Never mind that we couldn't see 2 car links in front of us and there are signs warning "Do Not Stop or Park on Road".  We made it safely to our campsite in spite of the CSI.

Looking across the street from our Big Meadows campsite, we could barely see the other campers.
The rain stopped, the sun came out later in the day and stayed out for the rest of our time at SNP.

HEART & SOUL IN NORTH CAROLINA

CHARLOTTE & ASHVILLE, NC - Sept. 5 - 8
The drive from Knoxville, TN to Lenoir, NC was a beauty.  Driving into the Blue Ridge Mountain range along I-40 was stunning with the wild flowers blooming along the road and the majestic pines and hardwood trees covering the mountain sides.

SOUL FOOD
We took a day trip to Charlotte; the highlight was lunch at Mert's Heart and Soul Food restaurant.  I ordered their famous salmon cakes which came with fresh out-of-the-oven corn bread, and ordered a side of red beans and a side of collard greens.  After I licked my plate, I was fuller than a tick on a hound dawg.

Charlotte not only has Soul Food, it has Soul Music.

HOW HIGH'S THE WATER, MAMA?  TWO FEET HIGH AND RISING
A mountain creek runs along side and in back of our campsite in a gap of the Green Mountains.  Shortly after getting back from our trip to Charlotte, a storm passed through raining cats and dawgs with thunder shaking the camper, and lightening barely missing the towering trees surrounding us.  We watched our gentle peaceful mountain creek turn into a river, raging like a mad bull seeing a red bandana hanging out of Bubba's overalls pocket.  Jim started singing that Johnny Cash tune "How High's the Water Mama?". 

The creek running around our campsite - before it started rising.

BILTMORE
September 7th we arrived in Asheville, NC.  The next day we toured Biltmore Mansion,the largest single family home in the U.S.  The estate covers 80,000 acres, is a working farm, and produces award winning wine from the estate's vineyard. The estate built by George Vanderbilt in the late 1800's  is still owned by the family and the various enterprises are operated by his great granddaughter and great grandson.  

Magnificant Biltmore mansion has 250 rooms filled with priceless art and artifacts.

Fantastic gardens surround the mansion.
The Conservatory in the background has thousands of plants and flowers

These orchids are just a small sampling of the many varieties in the Conservatory.

ANOTHER ADVENTURE BEGINS

SUMMER FUN
Summer finally arrived around July and we packed as much fun as possible into the next few months with friends and family, and rocking to the music of Paul McCartney at Target Field in Minneapolis, and Aretha Franklin at the Minnesota State Fair.

Water gymnastics

Girls weekend at Contessa's cabin on the Cloquet River

A cart load of kids and a fun weekend at Amy & Dana's

Princess Kay of the Milky Way - Butter Sculpture at the Fair

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
We got back on the road August 29th with our first stop in Muscatine, IA.  We camped at the Shady Creek Recreation Area along the bank of the Mississippi River.  While spending a few days visiting Jim's sister, Jan, we toured 5 villages of the Amana Colonies and the Pine Creek Mill State Park near Muscatine.

Jan & Jim working on their book.

View of the Mississippi River at Shady Creek Campground

RAINS AND LEAKS
Sept. 1st we stayed east of Indianapolis.  Although we thought we had the leaking bedroom slide-out fixed, it wasn't.  Storms dumped buckets of rain during the night, but we kept dry by putting the slide-out in. It's only an annoyance because we can't walk around the bed and I have to crawl over Jim every time I need to get in and out of bed.

JIM DOES THE ICE WATER CHALLENGE WITHOUT BEING NOMINATED
After a long day of driving through a bit of the states of Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky, we arrived at a KOA Campground north of Knoxville, TN.  I was getting our "end of the trail" cold beers from the refrigerator and heard Jim yelling something about water. I ran outside and saw he was dripping wet drenched from head to foot, and what looked like Old Faithful shooting up over the top of the motorhome.  As he was bending over the water connection, hooking up the water hose, the pipe broke and shot him in the chest with a blast of cold water. It was hilarious.

It's a geyser!

SECRET CITY
We had planned to stay one night at the KOA, but had to take my computer to the Apple Store in Knoxville because it wouldn't  power up.  It turned out the "mother board" needed replacing and it would take a day or 2 before it would be repaired so we decided to see some of the local sights.  We drove to the "Secret City", a.k.a. Oak Ridge, TN.  This was one of the 30 top secret sites across the U.S., Canada, and United Kingdom developing the atomic bomb during WW-II.  Reactors were constructed at Oak Ridge in which uranium was irradiated and transmuted into plutonium.  And I thought Oak Ridge's claim to fame was the Oak Ridge Boys.

SOUTHERN COMFORT FOOD
Thursday we strolled through an extensive and impressive collection of pioneer buildings and artifacts at the The Museum of Appalachia.  The museum tells the stories of the folks that made the Appalachian Mountains their home.  We got our first taste of southern 
home-cooked comfort food at the Museum Cafe.  I ordered the chicken with a side-dish of green tomato casserole as well as a side-dish of corn casserole.  The food was fresh, delicious and made from scratch. Before leaving the Museum we stopped back at the cafe and ordered a piece of Hummingbird cake and Peach Up-Side Down cake to go...desert for supper!  

Appalachian Porch Pickers 

MAC IS BACK
While at the Museum of Appalachia, Bill, the Apple Store guy, called to say Mac was back with the living and ready to be discharged from the hospital.  Tomorrow we leave beautiful Tennessee.